Holguin sat in the carriage, reading the report in his hands with a serious expression. His son sat across from him, calm and uneasy. From time to time, his eyes swept over the information his father held in his hand, and quickly bowed his head respectfully and unobtrusively. This was the information he had gathered about the "City of Life", Azoth, before his departure, and the Empire had finally given the city in the Forest of the Undead its official name, but of course, it was only a matter of time before the name of the Forest of the Undead was swept away into the dust and ashes of history for the foreseeable future.
The carriage lurched slightly, even making people dizzy. But Holguin just put down the thick material in his hand and looked at his son.
"You're doing great."
He had only five words to say about what his son had gotten out of half a month of working all day.
Then Holguin spoke up and asked .
"In your opinion, what should we do?"
"I think we should side with Princess Serenity, Father-sama."
Little Holguin has no intention of trying to hide his thoughts, modesty is sometimes not a virtue, and if he can't strike when he should, the Holguin family's next patriarchal seat is not his for the taking." The Academy Convocation has clearly made a mistake this time, in the loss of Miss Kelly now, the conflict between Lord Vito and the Convocation has intensified, and in order to maintain stability. The Convocation will at least be more restrained than usual, so in my opinion, in order to maintain its prestige and domestic stability, even if it's just a gesture, the Convocation's decentralization is necessary. The possibility that the Lord of Heaven will appoint Princess Serenity as the official lord is very high, because Princess Serenity is subordinate to the king's army guards and is the second princess without the right to inheritance, if she is appointed as the official lord, then the academy council will be able to stabilize the mood of the royal family and the army both sides. ... "
"Stupid!"
"..."
The younger one could only keep his mouth shut in the face of old Holguin's scolding, knowing that he must have made another mistake.
"Have you not investigated what Azoth is like now?"
"Of course I've looked into it, Ms. Serenity leads patrols every day to keep order in the city, and her methods are fair and reasonable, and very popular ..."
"Did you read the internal report of the Convocation carefully?"
"Of course I did, Father Superior, but what does that have to do with this?"
In the face of his son's rhetorical question, the old Holguin could not help but sigh helplessly, although he was young, but after all, he was only a businessman, and could only be a businessman.
"What do you think of the Temporary Lord?"
A self-satisfied smile appeared on young Holguin's face in response to his father's question.
"He's just a brave man who uses brute force, Father. He's a guardian, but he can't even protect Kylie-sama. If it's really to appease Lord Vidocq's anger, the Academy Council will treat him as an outcast. He's useless and not worth caring about. Moreover, according to the investigation, after Miss Kylie's death, the affairs and operational efficiency of the entire Azus have decreased so much that it's clear that there's nothing to be concerned about with this man at all."
"What kind of person do you think the Lord of Cthulhu is?"
Young Holguin was caught off guard by the suddenness with which the elder Holguin asked this irrelevant question, but he quickly bowed his head.
"I'm sorry, Father-sama, but I'm not in a position to judge ...."
"Of course you didn't."
Old Holguin was quite sure .
"You are just a brat, never even met with the Lord of the Heavens, what qualifications do you have to judge her?" Said here, the old Holguin paused for a moment, see his son comprehended his own meaning, he then continued: "You have to remember, my son. You have to remember, my son. The person who can lead the Academy Council, or even control the Academy Council alone, is definitely not a person who can be taken lightly. How do you think the Academy Council was able to take over the power of the royal family? It's not because their magic is powerful, or because the Academy is the foundation of the Empire's power. It's because of ...."
Old Holguin's voice went low for a moment.
"They are good at ruling, and they know how to use their power, and that is why the Academy Council, even though it has come close to de facto overthrowing the royal family, has not caused much resentment. You realize, my son, that a regime based solely on force will never last, but the fact that the Conclave has been in control of the Empire since before I was born, you know what that means. The Celestial Lord is a cunning one, and she would never allow such an important piece of land to be built by the kind of fools you speak of. You see, Azoth is clearly going to be the most important center of the forest, possibly even as large as Lilyblossom City. Do you think that kind of fool is qualified to build such a city? And that the Lord of Heaven would give his power to such a man without a plan? Have you forgotten what he did to earn an honorary knighthood?"
"But Father ..."
Little Holguin wasn't dead in the water, and he followed up with an opinion of his own.
"Even if that man did kill a dragon, it was a badly wounded dragon, and it might ..."
"Guess I should have let you be a traveling merchant like I was when I was young and run around, you won't say that when you've seen a real dragon."
Old Holguin gave a disgruntled snort .
"And don't you think it's suspicious? Why didn't this teenager named Jared choose to hide the truth, and instead write in his report that the dragon had already been seriously injured? He could have chosen to hide this information and just say he killed a dragon, wouldn't that have been better?"
"But it's only a matter of time before someone sees a problem ..."
"It's a wonder the problem would be seen! The dragon is dead! Who knows if it was wounded in the battle with the guardian, or before?"
At his father's stern questioning, young Holguin opened his mouth, but said nothing. Older Holguin stared out the car window at the forest with a pensive gaze.
"My son, don't forget what we're here for. I have a very bad feeling that Don Vito has gone too far this time, and he has drafted twelve hundred soldiers of the close guard ... I always feel something is not good."
Jared stood on a branch, looking at the stream of people passing beneath him.
(How's it going? Jared?)
"Mr. Vito can be really big gesture, actually also deployed so many close guards, heavily armed ... plus the private soldiers of these three big families, people who don't know, I'm afraid they will think they are ready to go to war."
Jared leaned against the thick trunk of a tree and commented with a sneer. Though the Lord of the Heavens had warned him, Jared still couldn't understand what Vito was doing with so many soldiers. After all, Azoth had a population of less than two hundred, making it more of a village than a city. There is no need to use such a large sum of money ... What does this old man really want?
(Whatever Mr. Vito wants to do, we have to be prepared. ... He's still very cautious, or maybe he just can't find anyone to talk to?)
"You know, this is the 3,270th time I've complained about ..."
（If only I could read minds, right?)
Caroline with ridicule rhetorical question blocked Jared's mouth, he can only helplessly shrug his shoulders, jokes aside, if Caroline really has the ability to read minds, then I'm afraid she will become very painful. Jared knew that Caroline has been for their ability is not mind reading and feel fortunate, the world is not everything know more clearly the better. Sometimes it's best to be confused.
So Jared's complaints are only at the joke stage.
(Come back soon, Serenity's side is ready, I need to be with Kylie, I'll leave the rest of the problem to you, my lord.)
"As a fiancée, you don't want to help me out a little?"
Jared's rhetorical question went unanswered by Caroline, who had apparently either withdrawn her thought communication or was pretending not to hear it.
So Jared could only sigh helplessly, and then his figure turned illusory in passing, and then disappeared.
Almost everyone cringed when they saw the Azus under construction.
It's a mess.
The surrounding houses seem to have been built almost at random, leaving only the necessary access roads. The planning of the city was good on a large scale, but the details were horrible. Both the inhabitants and the patrols were dusty, and even the roads were rough, but fortunately at least they were passable for wagons.
Jared stood in the square in front of the castle with Serenity and Wendy, waiting for the "guests" to arrive. When he saw Vito step out of the carriage, Jared rushed over to greet him and signaled for Serenity to greet the representatives of the great families. After all, it wasn't the lords who were the main course, but the man with the infinite sorrow and sadness on his face.
"I'm really very sorry, Lord Vito ... if it wasn't for us ..."
"What's the use of talking about it now?"
Vito sighed as if disheartened, then he coldly pushed Jared away from him, striding toward the castle.
"I want to see my daughter. Where is she now?"
"Please follow me."
Jared did not show any emotion and glanced at the people who were chatting with Serenity, it was obvious that just as Caroline had told him earlier, these great nobles and royals all regarded Serenity as the future master of this place. So without further ado, he led Vito straight to the castle. Jared didn't care if his rudeness would annoy the nobles, of course, if he could make them think less of him, that would be even better, otherwise, Jared's efforts in this performance would be in vain.
As for Wendy, she was promptly forgotten after the greeting.
A dim firelight flickered in the darkened corridor as Jared gently pushed open a door, then sidestepped it with an apprehensive expression.
With heavy steps, Vito stepped into the room, and his close guards immediately barred Jared from the door.
In the dimly lit room, a huge rectangle of ice lay quietly on the floor, and there, Kylie was calm, as beautiful as a sleeping princess.
"Kelly ... my ... daughter ..."
Vito reached out, gently stroking the surface of the ice while Jared stood in the doorway, peeking at Vito with a critical eye.
The body is a fake, of course.
In fact, although at the beginning, everyone had a problem with how to fake the body, and Serenity even suggested cremation. But Jared thought it would be better for him to see it with his own eyes, rather than leave a trail of doubt in the minds of others.
The ice coffin was made by Serenity, and all she did was create a piece of ice with her spell.
Then it's Jared's job.
By modifying the light patterns inside the ice, Jared easily recreated and replicated Kelly's light values, modifying them into the ice. This way, he could use the "embalming" excuse to get away with it, and at the same time, he could show Vidocq a real body. Of course, a corpse frozen in ice can't be touched.
Vito gently stroked the ice casket, and after a while stood up, turning to Jared with undisguised anger in his eyes.
"Then ..."
Vito spoke coldly, with obvious loathing in his voice.
"How are you going to take charge!"